Lawsuit junkie run out of town

Graphics

The last of my “Whatever happened to …?” series focuses on one topic I visited several times during 2012: the predatory plaintiffs who shake down businesses for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Then: I reported on several men in wheelchairs who apparently make their livings suing small businesses for not having a handicap parking space of the correct width or proper disabled-access signage in their parking lots. They have filed, literally, hundreds of lawsuits.

If the violations are real – and they usually are – the plaintiffs are entitled to a minimum of $4,000 under state law. Some defendants have told me that the plaintiffs will usually settle immediately for $12,000. One San Diego expert in defending the lawsuits, however, said that a more typical settlement is $6,000. (Plaintiffs are able to get more than $4,000 because they know defendants have to factor in their legal expenses.)

Among the cases I wrote about were those of serial plaintiff
Tim Lee Conn, who as of September had filed 42 cases in 2012 in O.C. Among the businesses he sued was a Laundromat in Santa Ana owned by an 84-year-old widow. She hired Fullerton attorney
Thomas K. Hadley and they decided to fight. He discovered Conn was likely in the hospital when he said he was at the Laundromat; Conn's lawyer immediately dismissed the suit.

Now: In September, Gov.
Jerry Brown signed legislation that, among other things, cuts mandatory damages to as low as $1,000. Most provisions of the law didn't take affect until this week, but the defense expert,
David Warren Peters, is skeptical it will result in a reduction in abuse.

“Every time the Legislature reduces the amount a plaintiff can recover, we see the number of suits increase to make up the difference,” Peters said. “Most of the law firms filing these cases have fixed monthly obligations.”

That said, Hadley apparently has succeeded in driving Conn out of O.C. After the Laundromat case, Hadley picked up other clients Conn had sued, including a Stanton motorcycle shop and a Garden Grove cafe.

Hadley and his paralegal,
Wendy Stone, went back to work on Conn. He had been convicted of a half-dozen drug charges in the past, but it wasn't clear whether a judge would ever allow in that evidence because they had been remote in time and Conn claimed he had cleaned up. Then, Hadley found a San Bernardino County case from July in which he'd pleaded guilty to drug possession.

This made it more likely that a judge would allow in such evidence, and Conn's lawyers knew it. Their initial demand for $12,000 was lowered to the $500 that Hadley had initially countered with. Hadley then took the $500 off the table altogether (his client hadn't yet signed off on the deal) and Conn's lawyers went away.

So, apparently, has Conn, who stopped suing O.C. businesses in September and moved onto the Inland Empire. That's a typical M.O., says Peters.

“Generally, you will find that once a serial plaintiff's credibility has been damaged, they will go to another location and/or have difficulty in finding ethical lawyers to represent them,” Peters said.

Rannis' La Habra furniture shop was sued by a man named
John Ho for having an inadequate handicap parking space. Before his case went to court, Rannis learned that Ho had about 300 cases scheduled for settlement in Los Angeles County on Dec. 5. He went to the courthouse in Pomona to watch.

Ho's attorney came into court and said he already had 92 of the cases settled. About five judges effectively shut down their courtrooms to process the rest. Closed-door negotiations went on for a couple of hours, Rannis said, before they were halted. It is unclear how many cases beyond the 92 were approved, but even if only the 92 settled for $6,000 (which is what Rannis later settled for), Mr. Ho made $552,000 that morning.

“Dec. 5 was payday,” Rannis says.

I called the law firm that represents Ho, Conn and many of the other serial plaintiffs, the Center for Disability Access in San Diego. I did not get a return call. I have never received a return call from the firm, but I realize the lawyers there are incredibly busy.

Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.